Wake Green Amateur Football Club – 80 years of football

To pen a portrait of an amateur football club covering a period of 80 plus years is a daunting task and can best be done by reviewing in three time periods:-

1925 – 1947

Wake Green Amateur Football Club was founded in September 1925 in a house on Wake Green Road, Moseley, Birmingham and only played friendly matches until joining the Birmingham and District Amateur Football Association in 1928.  An extraordinary General meeting held on 12 April 1927 had originally rejected the proposal to join the association on the grounds that “……the spirit was always better in friendlies”.  One member successfully appealed against his exclusion from the club because he had been in favour of joining a league.

In 1926 we had our first home – a ground rented from the Y.M.C.A in Bristol Road.  The club’s first AGM was on 8 July 1926 when the accounts showed a season’s working capital of £3.8s.1d plus the profit from social events £6.11s.11d (due to the support of the faithful few) which gave an annual turnover of £10.  Our next home, from 1928 to 1939, was to be a ground rented again from the Y.M.C.A. in Fox Hollies Road, Hall Green.  By this time membership had grown from 11 in 1925 to over 70 in 1939 when the club “closed” at the outbreak of the Second World War.

In the first three seasons of league football the club made good progress winning the 3rd Division Championship in their first season and gaining first dividion status in 1931/2 when they also reached the semi final of the Senior Cup.  This period produced many outstanding characters and personalities.  They are all well documented in hand written minutes of meetings which were held weekly in those days and well illustrate how these members laid the foundations for the club’s future.

Other snippets from this era:-

• Founder member censured for arriving at last Saturday’s match as reserve without any “togs”.
• Member of the committee resigned because his bicycle had been stolen and he was unable to travel to meetings.
• Goalkeeper for the second team fell out with his captain during the second half so walked off the pitch and went home.

Aston Villa offered the club an old ball – as long as we collected it.

Thanks to the secretaries of this era for keeping such detailed minutes which illustrate the feelings for the club and showing the problems we experience today are not exactly new.

1947 – 1975

The task of bringing the club back to life after the war with no ground, no members and no funds was immense.  The club could well have died but for the hard work of Max “Mr. Wake Green” Holloway and his deputy and friend Tom French who, by example and leadership, inspired a few old members to resurrect the club. 

Pitches were rented on Daisy Farm Recreation Ground and a field was rented on an annual basis in Crabmill Lane, Hollywood.  While in the past amateur footballers were happy to change behind a hedge and share a bucket of cold muddy water as an early form of shower this was no longer the case.  Thanks to a loan from a friend the club was able to purchase an old army hut to be used as changing facilities.  Crabmill Lane was the club’s home until 1962 when we moved to “The Dell” in Peterbrook Road, Solihull Lodge.  Wake Green were only based here for three years before moving to “The Oakfields” in Tythe Barn Lane, Shirley in 1965. 

The effort required to turn a grazing field into a respectable football ground was considerable and shouldered in the main by Max and Tom with help from a select few.  A clubhouse was purchased and erected by club members and a few of Tom French’s famous  six inch nails.  The clubhouse gave changing facilities for 4 teams and match officials with an added luxury of showers plus a small kitchen and a bar.  Such was Tom’s dedication to the club that during one marital row he was told that he loved Wake Green more than he loved her to which he replied that he loved Silhill more than he loved her (I’m sure he did not really mean it!). 

Between 1947 and 1975 not much was achieved in the way of league titles and cups apart from the odd isolated victory in the Minor (3rds) and Holder (4ths) Cups.  However, this was the period when the infrastructure of the club was established which would take us into the new millennium.  We fielded up to six teams in the Birmingham and District AFA Competitions with annual entry into the “London Cups” through our affiliation to the Amateur Football Alliance.  The club spirit was further strengthened by end of season tours both in the UK and Europe together with various social events through the season.  The club’s Golden Jubilee was celebrated in 1975 with a special dinner and a match against Aston Villa Old Stars at the Oakfields. 

1975 to present day

An important event in the development of the club took place in the 1975/76 season when we joined forces with Leafield Athletic Boys Club.  Leafield played in the Central Warwickshire Youth and Boys League, on Sundays, providing football for 11 to 18 year olds.  After initial wariness the association went from strength to strength with many of the Leafield boys and officials contributing to the successes enjoyed through the eighties and nineties.  Indeed many are still at the club having formed life long friendships through a common love of football. 

The club moved to it’s present ground in Drawbridge Road, Majors Green and named it “The Holloway” in recognition of the contribution of Max Holloway.  Max served Wake Green for 75 years from 1929 until his death in 2004 and his name will always be revered within Wake Green.  The ground has been regularly improved and developed which now gives us some of the best facilities in amateur football in the midlands.  All achieved by the hard work of club members and all self financed apart from three very welcome grants from the Sports Council.  There was only one pitch when we arrived but with six teams being fielded each week we carried out major ground works to create the three pitches that we have now.  We had to employ heavy duty earth moving machinery to level the ground for No 1 pitch which is now recognized as one of the best in the AFA.

Wake Green’s first success in winning the Premier Division of The Birmingham and District AFA came in season 1987/88.  Having got their first taste Wakes then went on to win the Premier Division four years in succession and six times in nine years with added bonus of winning the Senior Cup on four occasions.  Success breeds success and during this period all teams in the club won leagues and cups but more important than trophies was the lasting friendships built up through being part of the club whether as an official, player or social member.

In conclusion we owe a debt of gratitude to our founder members of 1925, and to those who followed, maintaining and developing the vision and values of amateur football.  We can honour them by taking the club to it’s centenary with the same integrity and responsibility.